Video: Parent to Parent – Concussion Advice

Video: Parent to Parent – Concussion Advice

Posted on August 16, 2017

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a parent of a concussion patient? Watch Jim detail his experience during his daughter Chelsea’s recovery from a concussion. She was treated at the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program.

Read the full transcript from Parent to Parent – Concussion Advice:

Jim: I’ve been around high school and youth and college sports as an official and coach for almost 20 years, and I’ve seen kids get knocked unconscious, but when it’s your own kid…

Chelsea: I ended up getting kicked in the head twice whenever people were trying to kick the ball.

Jim: I took a second to realize I need to go get her. She needs help.

Ask Questions

Jim: The first thing I want everyone to know is there’s a reason behind it. These are professionals that are doing things for a reason and let it take its course and ask a lot of questions. They will give you as much information as possible and they’re very open and honest about it, and they tell you everything you need to know about what a concussion is and what you should expect from your children.

ImPACT® Test

Jim: If you’re child’s never taken it before it’s going to be frustrating for them because they don’t know what to expect. And when you have a kid like ours who wants to get everything right all the time, and she starts seeing answers that are wrong or incorrect, she starts to get frustrated.

Support At Home

Jim: The doctors are only going to do so much at her office and they told me that she’s going to have to work at things at home.

During Treatment

Jim: Chelsea being an active kid, she wanted to push herself more than probably she should and that’s where we really had to come in as being a part of a team. Dr. Collins did a great job of telling Chrissy and I, “Now’s not the time to push,” and then when it became the time to push, he told us, “Now’s the time for you to push her to do more.”

Get Educated

Jim: I think that parents should educate themselves as to what the symptoms of concussion are, what the possible symptoms of a concussion are, and seek treatment as soon as possible or at least an examination to make sure that their kids are okay. Because the one thing is you don’t want multiple concussions over a short period of time.

Don’t Be Afraid

Jim: You see athletes all the time that get concussions and they recover from them because they have the best care. The fact that we were able to give her the best care, and the fact that a professional that would say, “It’s fine for your child to play sports again and they’re going to be okay,” that gave me all the hope in the world. We want her to have a full life. If she wants to do it, I want her to be able to do it.